On Dec. 8, 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company in history to launch, fly, and recover a spacecraft from Earth orbit.

The Falcon 9 rocket delivered the Dragon spacecraft to orbit where it circled the Earth at speeds greater than 17,000 miles per hour (7,600 meters per second).

After nearly two orbits, Dragon fired its thrusters to begin reentry and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean three hours, 19 minutes, and 52 seconds after liftoff.

Now you can build and fly your own 1:88 scale model of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft. With molded nose and tail, and full color stickers for body and nose, the impressive finished model stands a big 22.8 inches (58 centimeters) tall. No painting required!

The kit includes molded transparent fins for flight, which can then be removed for display. Dual parachutes return the Falcon 9 and Dragon separately to Earth.

Build and then fly your own model of America's newest private space transportation system — from SpaceX!

Molded nose cone, tail and transparent fins

Large full-color body wrap sticker

Dual parachute recovery

Finished model stands 58 cm (22.8 in) tall

Lee Brandon Cremer

You have to love the marketing idea, NASA take note - create your own line of models and cash in.

I will buy it just for the capsule.

capoetc

quote:Originally posted by Lee Brandon Cremer:NASA take note

Important difference: NASA is in business to spend money, and SpaceX is in business to make money.

Cozmosis22

Hmmm. Interesting turn of events for SpaceX. Are they going to build space vehicles or model rockets?

Regarding NASA: supposedly they are "in business" to explore This New Ocean and are explicitly prohibited from advertising.

music_space

Sponsoring the manufacture of models has been a proud tradition with several space agencies, and I salute SpaceX for joining in with this initial offering.

I cherish the Soyuz launcher model from the Samara factory very much.

kyra

It might be wise to get an extra to keep in the package. I had not thought about it much until I saw the model but this launch is a huge milestone.

This is hard to resist with the cute Dragon Capsule. I'm surprised they didn't make it 2 stages like the Falcon 9, but multistage models are tricky to fly and get back intact.

Jay Chladek

Enough with the jabs at NASA. Technically they can't make money off of stuff like that. Of course, JPL tried it a few years ago with their Hot Wheels licenses, but those aren't around anymore (and JPL is a little weird in terms of NASA centers anyway).

Since this is a SpaceX project, SpaceX can do whatever they want to make such a product and sell it. I'm glad they are doing so as frankly, I want to get one of these. I hope they also consider licensing a more detailed plastic model as well, as I would love to build a big Falcon 9 with Dragon, or a Dragon by itself.

GoesTo11

I will not only buy one of these, I've emailed SpaceX and asked why they don't have an online store.

When I wanted a SpaceX baseball cap, I had to buy it on eBay. It seems to me that a company founded on the leading edge of capitalism is somehow behind the curve re: an easy means of both revenue generation and promotion. Hopefully, this model is a sign of more swag to come!

quote:Originally posted by GoesTo11:Hopefully, this model is a sign of more swag to come!

A few recruiters visited my university last year (with a little swag, I got a promotional booklet and a pen). They gave the impression that while SpaceX is working on cutting edge technology, it's really a small group where literally everyone has equal say and a lot of people know each other. Perhaps as the company continues to grow and acquire clients, we'll see more and more swag.

Robert Pearlman

SpaceX has updated its flying model rocket kit to feature the Falcon 9.1.1 but rather than topping it with a Dragon, it now includes a payload fairing.

JBoe

Is there a way to get the Dragon capsule one or is it totally phased out for this new version?

Robert Pearlman

It appears the original Dragon version has been phased out. Hopefully, SpaceX will soon release a Falcon 9.1.1 version with Dragon V2.